16 Year Term Limits Proposal Actually Gives Senators 18 To 22 Years.

HJR1009 will be on the ballot in November as a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution. It is being advertised as an ethics amendment but there was no need to put the ethics portion in the constitution since it could have been passed as an act and the legislature reserved the right to amend the ethics portion by an act, even though it would be put in the Constitution. The primary effect of the proposal is to weaken term limits and to allow legislators and other officers to get major pay increases. (For more on the the deceptive nature of HJR1009 read the three part article “How Much Does Ethics Reform Cost?“.)

This article focuses only on the length of term limits for Senators under the proposal.

HJR1009 is understood to allow a person to serve 16 years in the Arkansas House of Representatives, the Arkansas Senate or a combination of service in both. Reread the last sentence again and then answer this question: How many years of consecutive service may a State Senator serve under this proposal? If you answered 16 years then you are wrong! Under the proposed constitutional amendment, consecutive Senate service will NEVER be limited to 16 years. For a Senator serving only in the Senate, at least 18 years of service is allowed under the proposal and the Senator might be allowed 20 or 22 years before he or she is term limited out.

How is this possible? You don’t have to use Common Core math to come up with this answer. Regular math works just fine. Eighteen (18) years is the actual minimum in the Senate because 2-year terms do not count. Under HJR1009, every Senator will be eligible for at least 1 term of 2-years because of reapportionment. The Senator could have as many as 3 terms of 2 years if he or she also draws a 2-year term after reapportionment.

Why are there 2-year terms in the Senate?

The Senate is reapportioned every 10 years and in the 10 year reapportionment cycle there will be two terms of 4 years and one term of 2 years. and

Terms of Senator must be staggered so that not all Senators terms end at the same time (except prior to reapportionment). This means that after reapportionment Senators draw for terms so that approximately half receive a 4 year term and approximately half receive a 2 year term.

Here are three examples of how reapportionment and the drawing for a 2 year or a 4 year term allows a Senator to have at least 18 years of service. (Again 2 year terms do not count).

EXAMPLE 1

Election year

End of
Term

Term

NOTES

2018

2022

4

2022

2026

4

Draws 4 yr term after reapportionment

2026

2030

4

2030

2032

2

Reapportionment shortens term

2032

2036

4

Draws 4 yr term after reapportionment

18

TOTAL SERVICE

EXAMPLE 2

Election year

End of
Term

Term

NOTES

2016

2020

4

2020

2022

2

Reapportionment shortens term

2022

2026

4

Draws 4 yr term after reapportionment

2026

2030

4

2030

2032

2

Reapportionment shortens term

2032

2036

4

Draws 4 yr term after reapportionment

20

TOTAL SERVICE

EXAMPLE 3

Election year

End of
Term

Term

NOTES

2016

2020

4

2020

2022

2

Reapportionment shortens term

2022

2024

2

Draws 2 yr term after reapportionment

2024

2028

4

2028

2032

4

2032

2034

2

Draws 2 yr term after reapportionment

2034

2038

4

22

TOTAL SERVICE

A Senator who first served a term in the House of Representatives may also end up serving more than 16 years combined service, in part because of a provision that says if your term limit occurs during a term, you may serve to the end of the term.

Here is one final wrinkle. Partial terms served as the result of filling a vacancy do not count. So a Senator who filled a vacancy could serve almost another 4 years in the Senate.

How does the current constitution compare? The current constitution does not count 2-year terms. This allows some Senators to serve 8 years, some to serve 10 years and a few to serve 12 years. To serve 12 years the Senator must have a term cut short by reapportionment and must draw a 2-year term after reapportionment. A partial term to fill a vacancy do not count either. The Senate limit is separate from the 3 terms of 2 years allowed in the House.